Booking an Amsterdam airport taxi
You can take a taxi in Amsterdam in two ways: walk up to a rank and pay the meter, or book ahead and know the price before you get in. For a flight, the second one is usually the better idea. You are arriving with luggage, often outside office hours, and you do not want to negotiate anything at the kerb. How the four ways of getting a car compare across the city, and how to tell a licensed one, is on taxi in Amsterdam.
Booking here takes three steps and no account. You enter the pickup address and the destination, you see the price for each vehicle type, and you pay online. After that you get a link that shows where your driver is, which you can forward to whoever is waiting for you. A transfer from Amsterdam airport to a hotel works the same way: you book it on the hotel address and the driver takes you to the door.
The same is true for several rides at once. Amsterdam airport transfers for a group that arrives on different flights are booked as separate rides on the same day, each with its own price and its own tracking link, rather than as one arrangement that falls apart when one flight is late.
A note on words, because they differ by country. What an American would call an airport car service is the second of those two: a car arranged in advance, at a price agreed in advance, rather than one you wave down. In the Netherlands it is the same licensed vehicle and the same licensed driver either way; only the booking differs.
What an airport taxi amsterdam costs
A metered ride in the Netherlands has a legal maximum. Any taxi company may charge less, but never more. These are the 2026 maximums for a car of up to four passengers, in force since 1 January 2026: a starting fare of €4.31, €3.17 per kilometre and €0.52 per minute.
| Distance | Assumed driving time | Legal maximum |
|---|---|---|
| 10 km | 20 min | €46.41 |
| 20 km | 30 min | €83.31 |
| 30 km | 36 min | €118.13 |
| 50 km | 50 min | €188.81 |
Read that as a ceiling, not as an offer. The driving time in the middle column is an assumption, because the meter counts distance and time together; in traffic the same distance costs more. When you book here you see the actual amount before you confirm, and it does not change afterwards.
For a distance that is not in the table, fill in your own. The buttons set the distance and the driving time together; what you see is the legal maximum, not what the ride costs.
Fare calculator: what a taxi may cost
Enter the distance and the driving time. You get the highest fare a meter is allowed to show.
Quick fill
Sets the distance and the driving time in one go. The driving time is an assumption at an average speed that rises with the distance, from city traffic to motorway; if you know it better, change it.
kilometres along the route
minutes, including time spent waiting at lights or in traffic
- Starting fare
- €4.31
- Distance
- €47.55
- Time
- €10.40
- Highest metered fare
- €62.26
This is the ceiling set by the 2026 maximum fares. A driver may always charge less, and often does. If you agree a fixed price in advance, the total may differ from this calculation. These figures are indicative, not a quote.
Every vehicle type has its own rate and its own minimum fare, so a very short ride costs the minimum rather than the metered amount. Luggage is free. The fare for the airport run in particular, and how it compares to the train, is on airport to city centre.
And a cheaper ride is not automatically a worse one. Because the amounts above are maximums, a company may charge less, so a low fixed price agreed in advance is allowed rather than suspicious. Two things are worth checking instead of the number itself. A taxi fare applies per ride, so four people in the same car pay the same total as one; if you see a price per person, you are probably looking at a shared ride, so ask. And for one or two travellers with hand luggage, the train is cheaper than any taxi, which is the honest answer even on this page; the comparison is on airport to city centre.
How many people and how much luggage
You pick the vehicle yourself and see the price for each type in the same step. From five passengers, or more than four pieces of luggage, the booking automatically becomes a van, so nobody ends up standing next to a full boot. A group too large for one van has to be arranged: tell us and the ride is spread over several cars, each with its own tracking link.
For a group that wants to travel together in one vehicle, a bus or coach with a driver can be arranged as well; that is a separate request, because it is one vehicle with one departure time. Looking for a driver who stays with you for a half day rather than one ride? That is a private driver. Flying home after a cruise? The route from the quay is on Rotterdam Cruise Terminal to Amsterdam.
When to leave for your flight
Schiphol asks you to be at the airport two hours before a European flight and three hours before an intercontinental one. Count back from that time, not from your departure time, and add the drive plus the traffic you expect at that hour.
The full reasoning, including what happens when your flight is delayed, is on the Dutch page hoe lang van tevoren op Schiphol.
Who drives you
A driver from a taxi company or an independent driver from the same network. Documents of both the driver and the vehicle are checked and approved before that driver can receive any ride, and every driver is expected to turn up presentable, in a clean, undamaged and smoke-free car. Complaints are recorded.
That matters more than it sounds at an airport. The rides that go wrong are almost always the ones arranged with someone who walked up to you in the arrivals hall.
Frequently asked questions
Is a cheap Amsterdam airport taxi legitimate?
It can be, yes. The fares set by the Dutch government are maximums for the meter, so a taxi company may charge less and a lower fixed price agreed before the ride is allowed. What matters is the car, not the number: a licensed taxi has a blue licence plate, a taximeter in the car and the driver card on display. Check whether the price is per ride or per person, because a taxi fare normally applies per ride, and never accept a ride from someone who approaches you inside the terminal.
Is WellTransfers an official Schiphol taxi?
No, and it is a different kind of ride. At the official taxi rank in front of Schiphol Plaza you find the taxi firms registered with Schiphol, where you get in without booking and pay the meter. A ride through WellTransfers is booked in advance: you see the price before you confirm, you pay up front and you agree the pickup spot with your driver. What is the same either way is the law: a blue licence plate, a driver card from Kiwa Register and a taxi transport licence, and with us those documents are checked and approved before a driver takes a ride.
Do I know the fare before I confirm the booking?
Yes. You see the exact amount before you confirm, and it does not change afterwards, so there is no meter running while you sit in traffic. For a ride paid on the meter instead, the legal maximum in 2026 is €4.31 to start, €3.17 per kilometre and €0.52 per minute for a car. What a ride into town comes to is worked out on the city centre page.
Do I need an account to book a taxi in Amsterdam?
No. You enter your ride, your details and your payment, and you get the confirmation and the tracking link straight after paying. Nothing to install and no account to create.
Where do I find my taxi at Schiphol?
If you booked in advance, you agree the pickup point with your driver and receive their details with the confirmation. Without a booking you join the official taxi rank in front of Schiphol Plaza; taxis ordered through an app leave from the separate app pick-up point.
Can I book an airport taxi for a group?
Yes. From five passengers, or more than four pieces of luggage, your booking automatically becomes a van. The booking form takes up to eight passengers. For a larger group, tell us: the ride is then spread over several cars and you can follow each of them on its own link.
Can you Uber from Amsterdam Airport?
Yes, ride-hailing operates at Schiphol, but not from the same kerb. Licensed taxis wait at the official rank in front of Schiphol Plaza, while cars booked through an app leave from a separate app pick-up point elsewhere at the airport. Allow for the walk, and for the fact that whether an app has cars near you at that hour is something only the app can tell you.
Is it cheaper to take a taxi or Uber in Amsterdam?
Neither is reliably cheaper, and at an airport the reason is worth knowing. The difference is not the category but how the price is set: the meter has a legal cap that does not move, and an app price moves with demand. At an arrivals hall that demand peaks exactly when several flights land together, so the app can be the cheaper option on a quiet Tuesday and the dearer one on the evening your flight actually lands.
What is cheaper, an airport taxi or Uber?
The honest answer is that it depends on the hour, and that neither of us can promise you a number in advance. What you can control is the uncertainty: a price agreed before you fly does not move at all, whichever way demand goes while you are in the air. That is what booking ahead buys you, rather than a guaranteed discount.
Are airport transfers cheaper than taxis?
In the Netherlands an "airport transfer" is not a separate, lighter-regulated category: a car that drives you from Schiphol for payment is taxi transport, with the same blue licence plate, the same chauffeurskaart from Kiwa Register and the same taxi licence as the car at the rank. What a transfer buys you is not a different kind of vehicle but a price that is agreed before you travel instead of counted on the meter. Whether that works out cheaper depends on the route and the hour, so compare the amount you are quoted with the meter cap for that distance, which is in the fare section above, rather than with the word on the website.
Can I cancel my ride?
You can cancel until you get in. In the first 4 minutes after booking that costs 2.5% of the fare (at least €0.99), after that it is free until your driver is within 15 minutes of you; a ride planned ahead can be cancelled up to 24 hours before pickup for the same starting fee. What you paid minus the cancellation fee comes straight back; the full cancellation terms are in our terms of use (in Dutch).
Is a taxi in Amsterdam expensive compared to the train?
A train ticket is cheaper per person. A taxi wins when you travel with luggage, with more than two people, at night when trains are infrequent, or when your address has no good connection. On those trips the door-to-door time and the price per group are what matter, not the fare per person.
Sources
Amounts and rules change regularly. Always check the current information with the official bodies.